DMK, AIADMK members stage walk out in RS

NEW DELHI: Members from Tamil Nadu belonging to both the DMK and the AIADMK staged a walk out of the Rajya Sabha in protest against the decision to postpone a discussion on the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils, in favour of a more topical debate on corruption.  As per the list of business for Wednesday, the debate on the Sri Lankan Tamils was listed first, followed by the corruption debate.Immediately after the Question Hour, when the chair asked for the debate on  Sri Lankan Tamils to start, BJP members demanded that it should be postponed and the corruption debate should be taken up first. But, members from Tamil Nadu vociferously opposed it, pointing out that the discussion had been repeatedly postponed due to adjournments or other issues.Seeing the ruckus, the deputy chairman K Rahman Khan called for a short adjournment of 15 minutes, during which he called for leaders of political parties to arrive at a consensus.When the House resumed, Khan announced that the House would take the issue of corruption. Not accepting the decision, DMK and AIADMK members staged a walk out. Deputy Leader of Opposition and BJP member S S Ahluwalia said the debate on Lankan Tamils could be taken up on Thursday.Seeing the DMK members troop out, the CPI member D Raja asked if the government was losing all control, pointing out that it was not just a Tamil issue, but a national issue.  Prefacing his speech on the corruption debate, Arun Jaitley began his speech by saying that all members in the House had grave concern about the plight of the Lankan Tamils.